FILM REVIEW: Step Up: Revolution

The Step Up dance series is the Kraft Lunchables© of cinematic digestibles; a pre-packaged, predictable combination formulated for easy consumption. From the first film in 2006, the Step Up films functioned as a post-millennial version of 1980s breakdancing films featuring battling street dance crews, with enough flash choreography to make you forgive the Degrassi Junior High-worthy plots.

While expectations were low, the Step Up scouts deserve credit for recruiting a number of charismatic leads. That's Channing Tatum, Magic Mike himself boogieing down in Step Up and Step Up 2. Briana Evigan had enough flair to give the b-boys pause and Adam G . Sevani as "Moose" was a gallant goof with rubber for bones.

The Miami setting puts our star-crossed lovers into swimsuits. (Eonefilms)

For the fourth instalment the producers (many loosely connected to reality show SYTYCD) have thrown out the battling format and shifted the action to the bikini-clad boulevards of Miami. Set against a backdrop of high-end hotels and greedy real estate developers, the dance crew called "The Mob" is trying to make an impression on the city's sun-kissed denizens. Their funky flash mobs, creating their own brand of pop and locking performance art, are setting YouTube on fire. In 2012, it's all about the hits, meaning how much traffic their videos can generate. Get enough hits and the crew could win a cash prize and go pro.

Of course it wouldn't be Step Up without a Romeo-meets-Juliet remix. This time it's a Pas de deux involving a poor boy and a rich girl. Sean (Ryan Guzman) is the lowly wait staff working at one of Miami's glitziest hotels. Emily (Kathryn McCormick) is the daughter of the hotel's owner (Peter Gallagher), who also happens to be planning on redeveloping the humble hovel where Sean and his friends drink, dance and live.

Guzman, who comes from a modeling background, fits into the bros uniform -- fitted ball cap, tank top and baggy shorts -- just fine. But he looks about as edgy as Nick Lachey, albeit with slightly better rhythm. A So You Think You Can Dance finalist herself, McCormick can match Guzman thrust for thrust. But neither can rise above the script choked with clunkers like "I can't just do what I want. There are rules."

Luckily for us, the rich girl whose Daddy doesn't understand her inspires the Mob to turn their performance pieces into protest art. As the Mob take a stand against the man's plans, the choreography steps up. The best is a monochrome flash mob in the lobby of the developer's corporate headquarters. As dollar bills rain down, the crew march down escalators forming into an army of syncopated suits, with Timbaland and hints of dubstep Radiohead bouncing off the walls.

Ryan Guzman with the mob -- not all the numbers work. (Eonefilms)

Not all the numbers work as well. An art attack at the local gallery abandons the groove for gimmicks (Paintings come to life! Glow-in-the-dark ballerinas appear!) . Part of the problem is that without the dance-battle storyline of the earlier movies, every number is a guaranteed smash. The sequences are entertaining, but lack that sense of one-upmanship that b-boys and b-girls thrive on.

In the end, it all comes down to a massive performance at the docks to convince Daddy the developer to change his plans. The climax is a confusing, but exuberant, mess, with dancers bungee-jumping off cargo crates and some familiar faces from the franchise providing backup.

While the ending feels predestined, Step Up is still capable of surprises, such as the closing number: a modern dance duet to Cinematic Orchestra's "better dancers, but smuggling a little art into this summer fun shows the franchise still has a few fresh moves.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Former SYTYCD contestant Kathryn McCormick in Step Up Revolution. (Eonefilms)